Watch What Happens
by sickoftonight
Summary: When Ezra's ex-girlfriend Maggie dies in a car crash, their son Malcolm is put into Ezra's custody. Ezra and Aria are still together and living in New York City. Neither of them are ready for a eleven year old boy to live with them. See how this young boy impacts the lives of Aria and Ezra. (*Hiatus*)
1. Chapter 1

Aria Montgomery was sitting on the couch in her apartment, humming along to the music she was listening to as she typed out an essay for her Childhood Development course. After she graduated from Rosewood high school along with her best friends Hanna, Emily, and Spencer, she moved up north to New York City to attend New York University. The year is 2015 and Aria is in her senior year of college. She's majoring in Early Childhood Education with high hopes of teaching children at an early level. Aria took a sip from her glass of water as the door burst open.

When she turned around, she was greeted with the flawless face of her boyfriend, Ezra Fitz. Yes, the two are still dating. When Aria decided to move out to New York, Ezra originally stayed in Rosewood. After spending a wonderful summer together between Aria's freshman and sophomore years of college, Ezra followed her up to New York, where he found a job teaching high school english. Instead of living in a dorm for her sophomore year, Aria moved in with Ezra. Everyone thinks Aria and Ezra are destined to be married, and Aria's friends have speculated that Ezra will pop the question soon. Of course, Aria is certain she will say yes.

Aria giggled at the sight of her disheveled boyfriend. He was juggling three grocery bags in one arm and his briefcase, complete with papers falling out of it, on the other. Aria slid her feet onto the cold ground and got up off the couch to help Ezra. She pulled the grocery bags out of his hands and placed the on the counter, beginning to unpack the various items he'd purchased.

"Any ideas for dinner tonight?" Aria asked once Ezra put down his briefcase and settled himself into a stool in front of the counter.

"I hadn't planned anything," Ezra replied. "I have a lot of papers to grade tonight so I don't have a lot of time."

Aria nodded as she placed the milk into the refrigerator. She was used to Ezra having to spend some nights cooped up in his office grading papers. After Aria finished unpacking all the groceries, she tried to pull a box of elbow macaroni from the top cabinet. She glanced over at Ezra with a smile on her face.

"A little help here?" she questioned with a laugh. He stood up and walked over, easily reaching over her to grab the box off the shelf.

"Thanks," she breathed. Even though they'd been dating for four years, she still sometimes got flustered around him.

"No problem," he replied before kissing her on the forehead; a grin spreading across his face.

Aria pecked him on the cheek and then he went to go sit down on the couch. She filled a large pot with water to cook the pasta in. While the water boiled, she mixed up the ingredients for the cheese sauce. Once the macaroni was cooked and the cheese sauce was done, she combined them in a glass casserole dish which she put in the oven.

"It should be ready in half an hour," she spoke to Ezra as she sat down on the couch beside him; crossing her legs beneath her. Ezra smiled down at her as he looped his arm around her, his hand settling on her shoulder. He draped his other arm across his lap, his hand resting on Aria's inner thigh. Aria snuggled into him, placing one of her hands above the hand on her thigh. She sighed; happy. This was her favorite time of the day. After dinner he would have to grade papers and she would have to finish her own paper, but now they could just be together.

Aria turned her body to face Ezra and glanced up at him; biting her lip. He looked down at her with a smile. Aria hadn't heard from A, the anonymous texter who had harassed her and her friends, since the four of them had left Rosewood for college. The four girls still spoke, but weren't as close as they had been in high school. Spencer was at Princeton with nearly perfect grades; Emily was at Boston University and was the star of the swim team; and Hanna was at the Fashion Institute of Technology studying her passion. Since Hanna was also in New York City, Aria saw her the most out of the three girls.

Snapping her thoughts away from her high school friends and back to reality, Aria tilted her chin up as Ezra tilted his down. Even though they had kissed thousands of times, Aria felt fireworks each and every time. Her lips pressed against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt his arms slide around her waist as he increased the pressure of the kiss. Pulling her down with him, Ezra lay down on the couch. Aria positioned herself above him as she felt his tongue slide into her mouth. His arms moved across her back as she melted into his arms. Next thing she knew, Ezra had flipped Aria so that he was now above her. After continuing the kiss for another couple of minutes, Aria pulled away, out of breath. She pecked Ezra once more before leaning her head back, whispering "I love you" when she pulled away.

Aria closed her eyes as she felt little kisses making their way down her neck. When Ezra reached the spot where her collar bone connected to her neck, he stayed there, knowing how much she liked it. He continued to kiss in the same spot; adding pressure. Aria moaned as Ezra began to suck on the spot. She pulled his lips away from her neck and he gave her a pouty look.

"I don't want you to leave a mark!" she giggled, "I have class tomorrow."

"Fine," Ezra sighed as his lips returned to hers.

The two resumed kissing and Aria felt butterflies in her stomach. It amazed her how he still made her feel like this. Aria pushed him up, not breaking the contact between their lips. Once they were both on their knees, Aria pulled away as she looked at Ezra, whose breathing was ragged. She pushed him down onto the other side of the couch, connecting her lips to his neck. She kissed down his neck and onto his collar bone. Aria slowly unbuttoned each button of his dress shirt; kissing the spot above each one as she went down. Once she reached the bottom, she pulled the shirt away from his body. Her lips returned to his as he mumbled softly to her.

"I love you, Aria," he mumbled between kisses. "I love you so much."

Aria pulled away from Ezra as she looked into his eyes. "I love you too Ezra," she spoke as his hands fumbled with the bottom of her shirt.

Ezra carefully pulled Aria's shirt over her head as her lips returned to her own. Aria pressed herself as close as she could to him; wanting to feel as close to him as possible. Their lips moved quickly against each others', almost frantically. School was about to break for the holidays, so both Aria and Ezra had been working on schoolwork a lot. They hadn't been able to spend much time together. At least not time like this.

Aria felt Ezra's warm fingers reach down to the button on her jeans and sighed inwardly as he pulled the jeans down her legs. Ezra wrapped his arms around her petite body, loving every second they spent this close to each other. The two kissed feverishly, not wanting to break away from each other.

Suddenly a loud buzzing came from the kitchen. Aria pulled away before speaking.

"That's the macaroni and cheese," she spoke, trying not to pant too much.

"Can't it wait?" Ezra asked desperately.

"No," Aria spoke, "I don't want to eat burned food!"

Aria pecked Ezra on the lips one more time before taking the shirt he was wearing off the floor and pulling it around her. As she walked towards the kitchen, she buttoned the bottom half of them; feeling Ezra's eyes on her as she walked away.

The oven creaked as she pulled it open, retrieving the dish from the rack. When Aria turned around, she saw that Ezra had set the table and had lit a candle between the places. She set down the macaroni and cheese, smirking at him as he sat down.

"I like that look on you," she giggled, looking at her shirtless boyfriend across from her.

"Likewise," he spoke with a grin, placing his hand on her thigh.

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**I've been wanting to write an Aria/Ezra fic for a while, and I just thought of this idea. I know Malcolm isn't in this chapter, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what Aria and Ezra's relationship is like.**

**I would love if you guys would review. It gives me inspiration to keep writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ezra leaned back in the chair in his office, happy that he had the whole weekend to grade papers. He loved his job, but reading thirty essays on To Kill a Mockingbird was pretty boring. He skimmed through the first page on the current paper he was grading. They were all seeming the same to him at this point, so he stacked up his papers and sighed.

Aria smiled to herself. She texting Hanna, making plans to meet up for lunch later. Since the two of them were both living in Manhattan, they tried to meet up at least once a month. They'd stuck with it, too. The two girls were now seniors and they'd never missed a month of seeing each other. In all honesty, they ended up seeing each other more than once a month. Ezra's brother Wesley was a year older than Aria and Hanna and was attending NYU with Aria. One day, during Aria's sophomore year, Wesley was hanging out in Aria and Ezra's apartment with Ezra when Hanna came in to gossip with Aria about some boy she had just met. Aria and Hanna spent the afternoon gossiping but when night came, they watched a movie with the boys. Hanna and Wesley immediately hit it off and have been dating since then.

After shoving her phone in her back pocket, Aria stood up and walked over to the cabinet in the kitchen that held glasses. She pulled one out and filled it with ice and diet soda before sitting down on one of the stools in front of the counter. Aria turned her attention back to her phone, agreeing that Hanna would come by around twelve.

Aria heard footsteps behind her and felt herself being swirled around in her stool. She glanced up and was greeted with the perfect face of Ezra. Aria bit her lip as Ezra stared down at her. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. She playfully gasped.

"Is that all I get?" she said with a light laugh.

Ezra smirked down at her before pressing his lips to hers. Aria wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his hands behind her head. Their mouths slid open as they deepened the kiss. Suddenly, the front door flew open.

"We really have to start locking that thing," Ezra whispered to Aria as he pulled away. She smiled in response.

Ezra turned around to see who was at the door and wasn't surprised to see his brother standing there with a grin on his face.

"Oh sorry, did I interrupt something?" Wesley asked. You could tell in the tone of his voice that he wasn't sorry at all.

Aria glanced down at the little boy beside Wesley before looking up at Wesley. "Um, Wes, who's this?" she asked softly.

"I have no idea," Wesley replied. "He was standing outside the door; looking completely terrified."

Aria walked up to the little boy and got down onto one knee in front of him. "Hi sweetie, what's your name?" she asked in the voice she always used with children.

"I.. I'm Malcolm," the young boy replied nervously. The three adults couldn't help but think that the boy looked familiar.

"Hi Malcolm," Aria spoke sweetly. "Are you looking for someone? Your mommy or your daddy maybe?"

"I was um," Malcolm stuttered, "trying to find my dad. I think he lives here?"

Ezra looked down at the boy, alarmed. "What did you just say?"

"I.. my dad's name is Ezra. Ezra Fitz. Do you guys know him?" Malcolm asked cluelessly.

Ezra gulped, his voice caught in his throat. Aria stood up and looked nervously at Ezra.

"Um.. Ezra.." she began, "what's going on?"

"I have no idea," Ezra replied, "honestly."

"My aunt told me to give you this when I got here," Malcolm spoke up, handing Aria an envelope.

"Okay sweetie," she told him, "why don't you go sit on the couch in the living room, you can watch tv."

Malcolm smiled happily and ran into the living room. Wesley rolled the two suitcases that Malcolm had brought out from the hallway. The three adults crowded around the counter in the kitchen as Aria read the note out loud.

"Dear Ezra,

If you're reading this, then something must have happened to me. This is Maggie, from high school. I'm sure you remember me. Because something has happened to me, I guess it's time to tell you this. After we broke up, I gave birth to a son. Malcolm." Aria stopped reading and looked up at Ezra and Wesley. The two boys look like they knew more than she did, but she continued anyway. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to burden you with it. I wanted you to go to college and become a teacher like you always dreamed. I know that I shouldn't be springing a son on you, but I've told my sister Samantha to locate you and send Malcolm to wherever you are. I know you're probably mad at me for not telling you, but I hope that you will come to forgive me and raise Malcolm. He's an amazing kid and whenever I see him, I think of you. Please, forgive me." Aria looked up before speaking the last two words. "Love, Maggie."

Aria folded up the letter and placed it down on the counter before turning her attention to Ezra and Wesley.

"Would either of you like to explain what the hell is going on?" Aria asked, her voice coming out more harshly than she meant it to.

Ezra glanced at Wesley before speaking.

"Maggie was my girlfriend in high school. I knew that she got pregnant but she told me she got an abortion. She wanted to go to college. She.. lied to me," Ezra spoke sadly.

Wesley cleared his throat, prompting Aria and Ezra to look at him.

"I know a little more," he spoke as he glanced back into the living room at Malcolm. "I think mom paid her to stay away from you. You know mom, she didn't want any imperfections in our lives; in her life."

Ezra gaped at his brother. "You knew this and you didn't tell me?" Ezra spoke, his voice loud. Malcolm looked into the kitchen worriedly.

"Ezra, hush," Aria spoke, gently placing her hand on his arm. "We don't want Malcolm to hear you."

Next thing they know, the door swung open again. This time, Aria saw one of her best friends, Hanna Marin, in the doorway.

"Oh my god, Aria, you're never going to believe this," Hanna spoke loudly before looking at the expressions of the three adults in the room. "What's wrong?" she spoke, too loudly for the situation.

Aria glanced over at Malcolm, trying to get Hanna to be quieter.

"A kid? Why is there a kid here?" she asked.

Ezra coughed. "Um, he's mine."

Hanna's mouth swung open. "So, is he staying?" she asked the question that Aria and Wesley had been wondering since they first saw Malcolm.

* * *

**I guess this is a cliffhanger. I just thought it was long enough. You all know by the summary that Malcolm's going to stay. I don't know yet if I'm going to include Emily and Spencer in the story, but Hanna's my favorite so I had to include her.**

**I would love some reviews :)**

**I leave for college tomorrow so I'm not sure when the next time I will update will be.**

**Reviews make it happen faster, though :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Ezra glanced behind him at Malcolm who had slowly crept up behind them when he heard Hanna come in.

"I.. of course he's staying," Ezra said, plastering on a fake grin. He wasn't ready for a child at this point in his life and he sure as hell didn't want to impose that upon Aria.

After speaking, he shot Aria an apologetic look and she smiled sympathetically.

"So, where's my room?" Malcolm asked, wanting to unpack his bags.

Aria and Ezra looked at each other, wondering the same question. Where was Malcolm going to sleep?

"I guess we can put the desk in my office out in the living room and we can turn that room into a bedroom for you?" Ezra spoke, obviously questioning what he was saying. "But for the next couple of days, you can crash on the couch."

Malcolm smiled happily and returned to the living room, turning up the volume on the tv.

The adults turned back to each other and glanced around, none of them sure what to say.

"So.. I guess this means no lunch?" Hanna said, attempting, and failing, to lighten the mood.

Wesley placed his hand on the small of her back as they all rolled their eyes at her. No one knew how to react to a child being in the apartment. For what seemed like hours, but was really on minutes, the four of them just stood there looking at each other. Eventually, Aria snapped into a motherly mode. She walked into the living room and sat down next to Malcolm before turning to look at him. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Instead, she settled on an easy question.

"Hey Malcolm," Aria spoke, settling down into the couch, "do you want anything to eat? You must be tired from the long trip." Aria made a mental note that she and Ezra didn't know where Malcolm used to live and that she should ask that later. "I can make you something. I'm a pretty good cook, I swear. Or we can go to a restaurant or the diner or get some fast food or find some of New York's famous bagels?" she listed all the ideas she could think of, hoping one would sound appealing to him.

"Bagels are my favorite food," he spoke timidly.

"Me too!" Aria exclaimed with a squeal. "We'll go there!"

Aria got up from the couch to walk back into the living room.

"Malcolm and I are going to go get lunch at the bagel place down the street. Does anyone want to come?" Aria asked. She wasn't expecting Ezra or Wesley to come because they needed to start clearing out the office, but she wasn't sure about Hanna.

"Carbs, Aria? Really?" Hanna spoke in a condescending tone. Malcolm looked up at her, confused. Aria gave her an 'are you kidding me?' look.

"Ugh, fine. I'll find something," Hanna conceded with a small smile.

Aria pulled her purse over her shoulder and lightly placed her hand on Malcolm's shoulder, guiding him out the door. Before closing the door, she gave Ezra a quick wave. He replied by rolling his eyes in a playful manner, trying to to bite back a smile. As Aria shut the door, she heard Wesley complaining.

"Hey, I didn't sign up for this when I came over," Wesley spoke. Aria couldn't hear what else he said because the door had closed.

Aria and Hanna led Wesley down the stairs and then across the street to the bagel shop. This was one of Aria's favorite things about New York City, there's always somewhere closeby to eat. Sure, in Rosewood there were a couple places, but nothing like the amount of choices there are in New York. When they walked into the shop and looked at all the choices, Aria could tell that Malcolm was overwhelmed. She'd had the same experience three years ago when she arrived in the city for her freshman year.

"I know, there's so many choices," she spoke as she put her hand on Malcolm's shoulder. Looking over the counter, she told her order to the woman. "May I please have an asiago bagel, toasted with cream cheese?" The woman nodded in response.

Malcolm looked at all the possibilities, not able to make up his mind. He wanted to try something new. "Can I have a french toast bagel, also toasted with cream cheese?" he asked. The woman nodded again as she wrote down his order.

Malcolm, Aria, and the waitress directed their attention at Hanna who was desperately trying not to complain about how many carbs were in every option she had.

"Umm.. uh... can I have a multigrain bagel with egg and cheese?" the waitress wrote down the order before asking if they wanted drinks.

"I'll have a Diet Coke," Hanna requested.

"Me too, please," Aria agreed.

"Umm, Sprite please," Malcolm finished.

The waitress gave Aria a slip with all of the orders on it and instructed her to take it to the register. The amount of the register came up to $14.86 so Aria pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it over to the cashier. When she got her change, the three of them went to find a table to sit at while they waited for their order to be ready.

"So Malcolm, where are you from?" Hanna asked. Aria shot her a dirty look, she didn't think they should ask him too much about himself.

"A suburb of Philadelphia," he replied in a soft voice.

"Oh, that's not far from where we grew up in Rosewood!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Yeah, only about forty-five minutes," Aria supplemented, recalling the times she and Ezra had snuck there to be together in public.

"Order for Aria," one of the waitresses called.

Aria stood up and retrieved the tray with the three bagels and three drinks on it. They each took what they had ordered and immediately began to devour the bagels, enjoying every bite. Including Hanna, who would deny it if you asked her.

Back at the apartment, Wesley was complaining incessantly to Ezra about cleaning out the office.

"Come on bro, if you help me, Hanna will be so grateful that she won't have to help that she'll probably reward you tonight, if you know what I'm saying," Ezra spoke, nudging his brother on the arm.

Wesley smirked. "You play dirty, Fitz. But fine, let's get started."

Ezra found some boxes in the closet that they unfolded. He took everything off his desk and put each item into the box. Then, he and Wesley lifted the desk together and brought it into the living room, placing it where it could fit and still be used. They continued to find places for things in closets, in the bedroom, and in the living room until the office was completely empty. The next day he, Aria, and Malcolm could go shopping for furniture.

* * *

**I don't know what this is.. actually I do, complete fluff. I know where I want this to go in the end, but I'm having trouble thinking of ideas for chapters. If you guys would give me some ideas of conflicts or something that could happen, please let me know.**

**Thank you to all the people that reviewed my last two chapters. I didn't expect all the followers I got either. I'd love if I would get some reviews before I write the next chapter :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Aria's eyes fluttered opened and she glanced at the clock with a smile on her face. It was already 9:30, she hardly ever slept this late. She leaned her head back on her pillow as she remembered what had happened last night. The whole Malcolm situation was still awkward, but Aria had made dinner for herself, Malcolm, and Ezra and the young boy tried to help whenever he could. When they sat down to dinner, it was as if they were a real family.

Now, the whole night wasn't something Aria and Ezra were used to. Normal they spent the nights cuddled close together on the couch or in the bed, but now that they had a child in the house they had less touchy. When they watched tv with Malcolm before bed, they never touched more than Ezra putting his arm around Aria. Even when they went to sleep, they felt weird about being too intimate when Malcolm was only two rooms away.

Aria gently lifted Ezra's arm off her waist and placed it down by his side. He slowly moved from being on his side, and spooning her, to being on his back. Aria had a big day planned for them, so she needed to wake him up.

Gently straddling over him, she placed her lips on his neck and began to plant light kisses down from where his jaw meets his neck to his chest. On her way back up, she stopped at his collarbone and began to place harder kisses in the same spot, occasionally breaking to suck a little. Much to her delight, he left out a soft moan.

Aria kissed her way back up until she landed at his lips. She placed her hand on his cheek and slowly brought her lips to his. Once she'd placed a couple kisses there, he began to kiss back, obviously awoken. Suddenly, Aria felt herself being flipped over so that Ezra was above her.

"Good morning, beautiful," he spoke in a raspy voice.

She loved his morning voice, it was always so sexy to her.

"Morning, sweetie," she responded before pulling his lips back down to her own.

Ezra placed one of his hands on Aria's cheek and slowly moved the other one down her body, finally landing on her hip. Increasing the pressure in their kiss, he slowly moved his hand down to her thigh and back up, softly stroking. Aria felt Ezra's tongue slowly making it's way into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his back, running her fingernails along it. The two continued to kiss for a couple more minutes before they both ran out of breath; pulling away from each other, panting.  
"I love you," Ezra spoke again in his raspy voice, nibbling on Aria's earlobe.  
She moaned softly as he rolled off of her and laying down next to her. Ezra placed on arm around her shoulder and use the other to lightly trace designs on Aria's leg, occasionally stroking her inner thigh, causing a quiet gasp from her each time.

"I love you too, baby," she spoke, "but I should go make breakfast."

Aria reluctantly pulled herself away from her boyfriend before placing one last, lingering kiss upon his lips. She readjusted the shirt and shorts she'd slept in, making sure they were covering everything. Ezra sighed as she watched him walk away.

In honor of Malcolm's first breakfast with her and Ezra, Aria decided to make pancakes. She moved the stepping stool to in front of the cabinet before stepping up on it to grab the pancake mix off one of the higher shelves. She stirred in the water as she heated up a frying pan. As Aria was watching the first batch of pancakes she'd put in the pan, she felt Ezra's arms wrap around her stomach.

Aria placed her spatula down and turned around, wrapping her arms around Ezra's neck. She pressed her lips to his and inwardly sighed a very happy sigh. Ezra moved her sideways and lifted her up onto the counter next to the stove. He moved both hands to behind her neck as he increased the pressure of the kiss and added in his tongue. Aria's hands pulled at Ezra's hair as his made their way down to her sides, stroking down her hips and outer thighs. Suddenly, they were interrupted.

"Umm, dad? Aria?" Malcolm spoke as he entered the kitchen.

Ezra cursed under his breath as he pulled Aria from off the counter.

"Uh.. sorry bud," he awkwardly spoke to his son while scratching the back of his neck.

Aria turned to face the pancakes and then cursed under her own breath.

"The pancakes are burned!" she cried.

She used her spatula to take the burned pancakes out of the pan and put those in the trash.

"Sorry guys, I'll put another batch in now."

Ezra took this time to turn the coffee makers on. He grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and three glasses. Not knowing what Malcolm would want to drink, Ezra pulled orange juice and milk out of the refrigerator. He placed all of this on the table before getting the butter and maple syrup from the refrigerator as well.

Aria took the second pancakes out of the frying pan and put them onto a plate, happy that they hadn't burned. She did this three more times, until all the batter was used up.

"Okay, eat up!" she announced as the put the plate of pancakes on the table.

Ezra brought over the coffee pot and served Aria and himself a cup of coffee. They both put milk and sugar in before taking sips of the steaming hot liquid. Meanwhile, Malcolm was piling his plate high with pancakes. Once the three of them finished breakfast, Aria announced what she wanted to do today.

"Let's go to Ikea!" she exclaimed. "We can get a lot of stuff for Malcolm's new room!" she smiled while looking at the boys, hoping they would agree.

* * *

**I wrote this chapter in about twenty minutes, I just couldn't stop. I hope you guys like it.**

**Please review :)**

**I'd love to get up to 15-20 total reviews.**


	5. Chapter 5

_"Let's go to Ikea!" Aria exclaimed. "We can get a lot of stuff for Malcolm's new room!" she smiled while looking at the boys, hoping they would agree._

Ezra looked at Aria who was bouncing with excitement and then looked over at Malcolm who had a small smirk on his face. Like father like son, Ezra realized as he felt a smirk forming on his own face.

"Sure Aria," Ezra replied with a smile.

"Okay," Aria spoke with a huge smile on her face as she began to stack up the plates, "let's leave in forty-five minutes? That'll give me time to do the dishes and get ready."

The boys both nodded and Malcolm ran off into the living room to turn on the tv. Ezra stayed in the kitchen and put everything back into the refrigerator as Aria put the dishes into the dishwasher. She quickly wiped down the table with a sponge before the two retreated to their bedroom to get ready.

Aria opened the drawers of her dresser and pulled out a simple, white camisole and highwaisted jean cutoffs. She was aware that Ezra was watching her as she changed, but she didn't care. It was nothing he hadn't seen before. Once she had the camisole and shorts on, and looked through her closet for something to wear over it. She finally settled on a three quarter length, pink cardigan. Aria retreated to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

After finding two long necklaces and putting them on, Aria started on her makeup. She wanted to keep it simple so she put foundation on, put a light eyeshadow on her eyelids and quickly dabbed some mascara onto her eyelashes.

When Aria returned to the bedroom, she saw that Ezra had put on a plaid button-up and dark jeans. She smiled at him as she approached him.

"You look cute," he spoke, glancing at her outfit.

"You too, babe," she said, lightly pressing her lips to his. "Let's go!"

Ezra grabbed her hand and led her into the living room where Malcolm was all ready to go. The three of them left the apartment and walked down the street to the nearest subway station. Malcolm had clearly never been on a subway before and looked very nervous when they began to walk down the stairs underground. Aria and Ezra assured him that they would be fine, they'd used it hundreds of times before. Soon enough, their train came and they were headed to the closet Ikea which was in Brooklyn.

Once they were on the train, Malcolm's nerves had clearly calmed. He held onto the pole next to the seat and stared out the windows, mesmerized at the city that was speeding by him. After a half hour subway ride, they got off at the stop closest to the store. The Ikea was a ten minute walk away, but soon enough they got to the huge furniture store.

Aria, Ezra, and Malcolm entered the doors and were unanimously overwhelmed at how many choices there were going to be. They went into the bedroom section of the store to look at some of the loft beds. There wasn't a lot of space in the room, so Aria and Ezra had decided to get a loft bed. They found one that was white and had a desk on the bottom part.

"How about this?" Aria asked; leaning down to look at Malcolm.

"I really like it," he said sheepishly. He still wasn't completely comfortable around his dad and his dad's girlfriend.

Ezra placed the box for it into their cart. He was going to need Wesley to come over to help him assemble all of the furniture. The next thing they needed to look for was a dresser. In one of the bedrooms that was specifically designed for a child, there was a dresser that had been painted. Of course, Aria being as artistic as she was, loved the idea.

"Wow, Malcolm! That's awesome isn't it? We could do that too! I have some paints at home left over from a painting class I took at Tisch," Aria rambled.

Malcolm laughed at her enthusiasm and agreed. Ezra put this box in the cart as well. The three of them continued to run around the store, finding more and more things to buy. When it was time to hit the register, the total had come up to $746 so Ezra pulled out his credit card to pay as Aria rambled on and on to Malcolm about how to paint the dresser they'd bought.

The store agreed to ship the items to Aria and Ezra's apartment, as they couldn't carry it all on the subway. Their next stop was Target because they needed a comforter and sheets for Malcolm's bed. Lucky for them, there was a huge Target only a couple of blocks away.

When they got to the store, Aria had a little bit too much energy from the sodas they'd picked up on the walk over. She was bouncing up and down while looking at all the different bedding. Ezra wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her down. Her energy was only setting off Malcolm's, who had begun to run back and forth down the aisles. Ezra sighed loudly, not knowing how to calm them down. He decided to just let them wait the energy out.

Malcolm came up to him with a Batman bedding set. "Hey Ezra, can I have this please?" he spoke in his little kid voice, stretching out the 'e' on please.

"Of course you can, little man," Ezra replied. "And hey, call me dad," he spoke, putting his arm around Malcolm's shoulders.

Malcolm smiled up at him. Ezra turned around and Aria was nowhere in sight.

"Oh no," he sighed as he saw her running over to the kitchen supplies. "This is always dangerous," he said to Malcolm, "She always wants to buy everything!"

Aria was in the kitchen section, gaping over all the different supplies. She saw Ezra and Malcolm come up behind her as she was inspecting a polka dot bowl.

"Can we get this, sweetie?" she asked Ezra with a puppy dog smile. "Please, please, please?!"

Ezra smiled down at her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Of course, Ari."

Aria, Malcolm, and Ezra were back at the apartment. Aria had made onion dip, so they were eating it with chips while watching tv. Ezra took a sip of his iced tea as someone knocked on the door. He got up to answer it and was very surprised at who it was.

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**Okay yes, a cliff hanger. I have to ways that this could go, so you guys have to tell me which you want. One way is a really cute chapter next and the other is a kind of dramatic one. The dramatic one would actually probably end up being two chapters. Either way, they'll both happy. So when you guys review this (hint, hint) tell me whether you want to see cute or dramatic next.**

**Thank you so much for all of the reviews, every single one makes me smile. I start class tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much I'll be updating, so I wanted to get this one out for you.**

**Please review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_Ezra took a sip of his iced tea as someone knocked on the door. He got up to answer it and was very surprised at who it was._

"Mom?" Ezra gaped. "Umm.. what are you doing here?"

"Can't a mother just visit her son?" Dianne Fitzgerald asked, insulted that she needed to have a reason to see her own son.

"Come on, mom. You've never come to visit me before, what's up?" Ezra asked.

"Okay, fine," Dianne sighed. "I talked to your brother on the phone last night and it seemed like he was hiding something. I thought you might know what it was?"

"You came here all the way from Pennsylvania to ask what Wes is hiding?" Ezra spoke, confused. "He's always hiding things, you know."

"Aren't you going to ask me to come in?" his mother spoke.

Ezra opened the door all the way to welcome her in. He cursed in his head. He had never told his mother that he and Aria were living together. And he had definitely not told her about Malcolm.

"Hello, Aria," Dianne spoke as Aria and Malcolm came into the kitchen. "I didn't know you would be here, how are you?"

"I'm great. And yourself?" Aria spoke in a polite voice. She was never the biggest fan of Ezra's mom, and she knew that Dianne wasn't crazy about her either.

"I'm fine. Who might this be?" Dianne spoke in a very condescending voice as she glanced at Malcolm.

Ezra quickly stepped beside the young boy and put his arm around Malcolm's shoulder. "Mom, this is Malcolm.. my son."

Dianne's mouth dropped open; clearly shocked. "Your... son?" she asked, blinking at the boy, thinking it was all a dream.

"Yes," Ezra replied coldly. "My son."

Aria had taken Malcolm down the street to the diner so that Ezra could talk to his mother alone. Anyone could tell that his mother was absolutely furious that he had a child.

"A child, Ezra? Really?" she spoke, her voice dripping scorn. It was then that it hit her. "Oh my.. is he Maggie's? Maggie from high school?"

Ezra glanced at her. "Yes, he's Maggies. I thought she had the abortion before I left for college. I thought everything was fine! She never spoke to me again," he spoke, hurt that he hadn't known about this. "Mom, did you know? Tell me the fucking truth. Wesley said that he thinks you paid her off to not talk to me. I know you tried to pay Aria off back in Rosewood to not talk to me. Did you do the same to Maggie?"

Dianne gasped, hurt that her son would say these things to her. "Yes son.. I did. You know how important image is to our family. I couldn't let an illegitimate birth affect my reputation; affect your grandparents reputation; affect your reputation. I didn't know that she'd had the kid though. I paid her to go through with the adoption and stay away from you. I never dreamed that she'd actually had it."

"He's not an 'it', mother," Ezra spoke loudly. "He's my son and his name is Malcolm!"

Ezra stepped away from his mother; livid that she would do something like this.

"Mom, I can't believe you. I can't believe you paid her off. She was my girlfriend. She had my child!", he spoke, his voice getting louder.

"Son, I'm sorry. I really am. I hope that one day you can forgive me," Dianne spoke, standing up off the couch. She was walking towards the door when Ezra spoke up.

"Because of you, I didn't know my son for eleven years. I missed his first word, his first steps, his first day of school. I missed everything. And that's all because of you," he said, his voice lowering to a whisper.

"I'm sorry," Dianne repeated. "If you'll let me, I'd love to properly meet him. Maybe we can get together for dinner? Aria can come. And so can Wes and that girlfriend of his."

"Hanna," Ezra corrected. Dianne gave him a confused look. "Her name is Hanna. But okay, we can have dinner tonight. How about seven at the Italian place down the street?"

Dianne nodded before leaving the apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Ezra leaned up against the island in the kitchen. He slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor. His head leaned back as a lone tear slid down his cheek. He didn't know how his mother could do this to him. And how Maggie could do this to him. He had missed his son's entire childhood.

Seconds later, Ezra heard voices outside the door. Aria and Malcolm were back. He quickly stood up and wiped the tears from his cheeks, plastering a smile onto his face.

When Aria walked through the door, she could tell Ezra was hurting. She could tell that the smile on his face wasn't real, but she didn't want to ask him what had happened in front of Malcolm.

"Hey sweetie, why don't you go watch some tv?" she spoke to Malcolm, patting him on the back.

He happily ran off into the living room as Aria walked up to Ezra. She placed a hand on his cheek and lightly kissed his lips.

"Oh honey," she spoke sadly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ezra nodded slowly so Aria laced her fingers with his and led him to the bedroom. She sat down on the foot of the bed and pulled him down with her, sitting across from her.

"So what happened?" Aria asked gently.

"She really did it.." he spoke quietly.

"She really did what?" Aria asked, confused.

"My mom paid off Maggie to have the abortion. She didn't know that Maggie hadn't listened to her and gave birth to Malcolm. But that doesn't matter. My mom paid Maggie so she would never talk to me again. Wes was right. I can't believe it."

Aria took both of his hands in hers and rubbed circles with her thumbs, not wanting to speak.

"I missed my son growing up. The first time he smiled, the first time he rode a bike. I missed it all," he stressed. "Then she asked me if she could meet Malcolm and actually talk to him. I said yes, I don't know why I did, but I did. She invited you, too. And Wes and Hanna. I'm going to call him in a minute. I'm sorry I roped you into this, you don't have to come."

Aria smiled. "I'd love to come."

* * *

**Okay so obviously I chose dramatic. I wasn't even going to post this right away, but since I got more than 20 reviews I had to! I have half of the next chapter written (where they all go out to dinner) and lots more ideas for following chapters. :)**

**Please review guys :)**


	7. Chapter 7

"Look, I'm sorry bro. Mom cornered me into it, you know how she is," Ezra spoke to his brother Wesley on the phone. "Come on, please just come. I don't want to just be sitting there awkwardly with her, Aria, and Malcolm. I need you and Hanna to break the tension. I'll do anything, come on," Ezra pleaded with his brother. "I can't take on mom alone. Yes? You'll come? Thank you so much! Okay, gotta go. Yeah, bye," Ezra finished, clicking the 'end call' button on his cell phone.

Ezra ran into the living room to tell Aria the good news. She was sitting on the couch with Malcolm watching tv. Ezra stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her and bent down.

"Wes said yes!" he exclaimed. "He and Hanna are gonna come!"

"That's great Ezra," Aria spoke with a smile, turning her head to kiss Ezra on the cheek. "Now, I have to go get ready," she realized. She got up and headed into the bedroom.

"Why does she have to get ready now?" Malcolm asked innocently. "We're not leaving for another hour."

"Girls take forever to get ready, bud," Ezra spoke with a smile.

Aria turned on the water in the shower as she striped off her clothing. After she finished her shower, she wrapped the towel around her body; squeezing her hair dry. She opened the door to her closet and looked around, not having any idea what to wear.

Knowing Ezra's mother, it would be somewhere fancy, so she settled on a tight, teal dress. Walking back into the bathroom, she pulled her fuzzy robe over her body and plugged in her hair dryer. Once her hair was dry, she heated up her curling iron. Aria curled her hair into loose curls, letting her dark locks fall down her back.

Aria put on foundation and powder to cover up any blemishes that could be found on her face. She cover her eyelids with eye shadow, achieving a perfect smoky eye look before sliding mascara over her lashes.

She walked back into the bedroom as Ezra was walking in to get ready. She smiled at him as she pulled the dress over her body.

"You look beautiful," he spoke truthfully while caressing her cheek.

"Aww, thanks sweetie," she replied, pecking him on the lips.

Aria walked back into the bathroom and fixed her hair slightly. She swiped some light pink lipstick over her lips before leaving the bathroom yet again. Ezra was changing into a suit. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, not wanting to get lipstick all over him, before walking out into the living room where she saw Malcolm sitting on the couch.

"Hey! You have to get dressed," Aria told him with a chuckle.

"I.. don't know what to wear," Malcolm said, tentatively looking down.

"Come on, I'll help you!" she smiled.

Malcolm opened up his suitcase and glanced over at Aria, confused. She fished through the suitcase and found khaki pants and a light blue buttondown shirt.

"Here, this is perfect!" she exclaimed as she lay the outfit on the couch.

"Alright, thanks," Malcolm replied with a small smile.

He left to change in the bathroom as Aria walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water before sitting on a stool and taking a sip. Ezra came out of the bedroom and feigned a look of shock.

"Aria Montgomery, ready before everyone else?" he spoke playfully, his mouth dropping before smiling. "This is unheard of!"

She glared at him for a couple seconds, but then she broke out in a laugh. "Oh shush," she spoke before pulling him close to her and kissing him on the cheek.

Ezra stepped closer to her and Aria wrapped her arms around him as he let out a sigh. She looked up at him.

"What's up?" Aria asked quietly.

Ezra kissed her forehead before speaking. "I just.. I'm sorry," he spoke.

"Sorry about what?" she questioned, confused.

"About dinner with my mom, about Maggie, about Malcolm, about everything." Ezra breathed out, waiting for her reaction.

"Come on, Ezra. It's okay," Aria replied softly. "Do I wish I knew about Maggie and that you got her pregnant? Of course, but it's too late now. He's your kid and now he's here, you have to take care of him. No, we have to take care of him," she corrected herself.

"But I.. this just got pushed on you. You shouldn't have to deal with this, you're still in college."

"Ezra, I love you more than anything in the world. Yes, this certainly isn't the best thing that could have happened now, but we have to roll with it. I'm here with you for the long run, your obstacles are my obstacles," she spoke truthfully.

"Thank you," Ezra said softly. "That means a lot to me."

Soon enough, the three of them were ready to go out to dinner. Aria, Ezra, and Malcolm walked out of the apartment and two blocks down the street to the Italian restaurant they were meeting Ezra's mother, Wesley, and Hanna at.

When the three reached the restaurant, they saw Wesley and Hanna waiting for them.

Wesley fidgeted with his tie, obviously uncomfortable. "Mom's in there," he spoke, "but I didn't want to face her alone."

Aria gave Hanna a quick hug, their nervous expressions mirroring each other. "It'll be fine," Hanna whispered in Aria's ear.

Ezra slung his arm over Malcolm's shoulders and led the crowd into the restaurant where Dianne was sitting alone at a large table.

* * *

**I'm aware that it's taken me almost two months to write this chapter and I'm so sorry. Freshman year of college is more difficult than I expected and now I'm busy with finals and everything.**

**In a week, I'm off for over a month. I'm spending a couple days in Maine, a week in Paris, and then a couple days in Florida, but when I'm home I'm determined to write a couple chapters of each story I'm working on, and possibly start a new one.**

**As always, please review so I know that people are actually reading what I've worked hard on :)**


	8. Author's Note

**Wow, I just saw for the first time that fifty people are following this story. I can't even believe it.**

**With that said, I've lost my inspiration for this story. I thought it would be fun to write but didn't think about where I wanted it to go or how I wanted it to get there.**

**I'm officially putting it on a hiatus, which is silly because I haven't updated in a really long time, which I'm so sorry about.**

**I need time to think about where this story should go. I don't exactly ship Ezria anymore (I'm loving Weslia tbh) so it's hard to keep going.**

**My plan for now is to rewrite the seven chapters I have. They aren't well written in my opinion, so I'm going to take some time to edit them up and see if that inspires me to keep going.**

**I would love love love your thoughts on this story and if you guys have any ideas where it should go in the future. If you have any thoughts, please send me a private message or message me on aim (my screenname is peacelovexava).**

**Until then, I hope that you're all doing great and I'm so sorry about the lack of updates.**

**(If you want something to read, I'm writing another story right now that I'm loving, so check that out :3)**


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